TLDR:
- Crypto helps to bypass government regulation so that poor people from Argentina from tumbling fiat currency. Bypassing regulation has deep implications like website like wikileaks are able to receive funds. People have way less power to keep government in check.
Whether you agree or not crypto is objectively bad. It is due to various reasons like:
- Environmental Concerns (BTC)
- Electronic Waste
- Ponzi Schemes
- Too many cryptos with pump and dump strategy
- Proliferation of meme coins like dogecoin
- Too volatile. If Elon farts expect coin price to increase by 20%?
- Many crypto have been hacked so is our funds really secure?
- Many hackers, scammers etc. are infamous for using cryptos.
The above reasons can intersect each other. Regarding point 1, many people argue another crypto-like Solana, dots, etc. which follow the proof of stake doesn't consume that much energy. You are correct but if we look at coin market cap proof of work coins dominate by a wide margin and other crypto follow it. Also, most of the time such coins are used to convert into BTC. And regarding the proof of stake, it is always like Rich gets richer which I seriously don't like.
Despite all of these disadvantages, it has one surprising benifit. It can't be easily intervened by the government. In dystopian countries like Argentina where the government is infamous for taking ransom in name of the tax, crypto plays a vital role in citizen's life. If you think I am being ridiculous here you might need to reconsider your reason after reading my critical reasons.
If you live in the west you might have underestimated your privilege. You might dismiss the idea that crypto is not solving the average joe problem. And yes I agree with that cryptos are mostly useless in western society. But for countries like Argentina cryptos are boon for citizens. Crypto is Hobson’s choice because you are too poor to pay tax. For Argentinians, tax is a euphemism for citizen blood.
Questions:
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But it is a band tape solution? It will make the country poorer? Yes, it only solves today's problem and is not a long-term solution. But at least they can live today (Am I sounding ridiculous to justify it)? Remember the government is full of scoundrels. The tentacles of corruption are so deep for an average one person can do nothing. Democracy has become a useless word. It was supposed to be a government of the people but now its a government of elites (Oligoarch?).
One man can't do anything in Argentina. The government is simply too powerful and we already know the consequence of Arab Spring which was futile on its own. In Arab spring lot of hopes were made but what we got in return, a more authoritarian government?
Changing government structure is going to take a long time even if people want. But people need to survive today so here we are...
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Why not use dollar instead of crypto? Because the dollar isn't that convenient. For dollars, you need bank accounts, etc. In Crypto, the currency exists in electronic format.
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What happens if the internet goes down? You don't lay eggs in a single basket. You will always need some fiat currency for purchasing groceries. But entire internet going down is generally a rare case?
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Crypto is too volatile? The currency of Argentina is more volatile than that. At least if you look at 10 year period crypto seems to be an increasing trend?
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Government can't tighten regulation They have said the same thing for drugs.